


Delusions of Happiness

by Oracle507



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Child Neglect, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Happy Hogan is a Good Bro, I'm Bad At Titles, Peter Parker Needs a Hug, Protective Tony Stark, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-14
Updated: 2019-12-29
Packaged: 2021-02-25 21:27:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 7,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21792223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oracle507/pseuds/Oracle507
Summary: When Tony went to go recruit Spider-Man to fight the rouge Avengers, he'd expected to find a bright, hyperactive boy. Instead, he found a sad kid in a sad apartment that brought back memories he hadn't thought about in a long time.
Relationships: Happy Hogan & Peter Parker, Happy Hogan & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Comments: 40
Kudos: 711
Collections: BL favorites, The Best Peter Parker Whump Fics





	1. Different than Expected

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!  
> For the purposes of this story, May and Ben basically just don't exist (sorry). Instead, Peter went to live with a different relative after his parents died.

As much as Tony didn’t like recruiting a literal child to help fight Captain America, he knew he had no other options. He needed more skilled fighters on his team. Peter Parker definitely had skills, even if he most likely lacked any sort of training.

He thought back to everything Friday collected on the kid. His parents died when he was five and he’d lived with his uncle ever since. He went Midtown School of Science and Technology and got straight A’s. He had no criminal record, or anything else that would make Tony reluctant to meet with him.

Happy parked the car in front of the apartment building. “Are you sure you don’t want me going in with you?”

“Nah, I think I’ve got this one. Friday’ll tell you if something goes wrong.” Tony stepped out of the car and examined the building. “This place looks ancient,” he mumbled before walking inside.

It didn’t take long for him to find the right apartment. He knocked. A man in this late thirties opened the door. “I don’t remember letting any aliens in here, or whatever it is the Avengers are fighting now. Get out of here.”

 _That definitely wasn’t the reaction I was expecting._ “I’m not here for anything like that. I wanted to talk about your nephew. Is he here?”

He rolled his eyes. “You don’t have a warrant, do you?”

“What? No, this isn’t like that.” _This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought._ “Peter applied for an internship and I was so impressed by his academic achievements at Midtown that I wanted to personally recruit him.”

The man sighed before moving out of the way to let Tony in. He quickly looked around the place. The living room was very small and hardly furnished. He could see two rooms further into the apartment and what looked like a supply closet. “My name’s Henry Parker, if you didn’t already know that.” The two of them sat on a couch. “Now, Peter didn’t say anything to me about an internship. Shouldn’t you guys need the applicant's guardian’s permission and all that?”

Tony only just then realized that his story might get Peter in trouble. “Yes, of course. That’s what I’m doing now. It’s normal for the kids not to tell their guardians everything until they get it. It’s pretty exclusive, and a lot of people get embarrassed if they don’t quality.”

“And my nephew did? Do you personally talk to every new recruit of yours?”

“Only to the best.” Tony forced a smile.

“So you think Peter’s the best of the best, huh?” He looked surprised. “Interesting. Now, tell me, Mr. Stark-”

The front door opened as Peter walked in. He wore a worn out hoodie and loose jeans. “I’m so sorry I’m late, Uncle…” He noticed Tony. His face went white and he froze by the door.

“We can talk about you being late once again later, Peter,” Henry said. “Mr. Stark here is telling me all about your little internship thing you never told me about, another thing we’ll be discussing later.

Tony couldn’t help but remember his own father scolding him for being late or disobeying him in some other way. He tried to force those thoughts out of his head. “It’s good to meet you, Peter.” He stood up, Henry following soon after. “I came here to tell you that you’ve been accepted. I was very impressed by your application.” He winked.

Peter, quickly catching on, tried to fake excitement. “Yeah, that’s amazing. Thank you, Mr. Stark.”

Henry wasn’t convinced. “You don’t look too happy. Then again, you probably thought you’d have more time to tell me about this instead of letting me get caught off guard like this.”

“I’m… I’m so sorry. I didn’t… I-”

“Just stop talking and spare yourself the embarrassment of stuttering in front of your new boss.” He turned to Tony. “If Peter’s managed to keep his room clean for once, you two can discuss this in there.”

“Thank you,” Tony said before Peter led him to his room. To Tony’s surprise, the room was spotless. Then again, that may have just been because the kid didn’t have enough stuff to mess up his room with. He’d never seen a bedroom with less personality to it. The walls were white and complete bare. The only furniture was his bed and a small desk with some beat up electronics on it.

The kid sat on his bed awkwardly. “I… I don’t know what internship you’re talking about. I’m sorry if there’s been a mistake or something.”

“There isn’t an internship. I made that up.”

“Then… Sorry if this sounds rude, but why are you here?”

Tony pulled out his phone and showed Peter a hologram of Spider-Man swinging through the city. “I’m here because of this.”

* * *

After spending almost seven hours in a hospital waiting room only to be told they won’t know anything for sure about Rhodey’s condition until tomorrow, Tony wanted nothing more than to just go to his hotel room and not have to think about anything anymore. Even so, he knew his brain would never let him do that. So much had changed in his life within the span of a few hours. First, Steve got away, then he was forced to arrest half of his former allies, and now his best friend was in critical condition and there was nothing he could do to fix any of it right now.

As he made his way to his room to wait for the government officials to finish interrogating all the arrested members of Team Cap, his thoughts went to Peter. It was hard for him to imagine Peter Parker and Spider-Man as the same person. Spidey was known to be witty and full of energy. He saw that today at the airport. The actual person behind the mask was an entirely different story. The kid was on edge the entire time he was trying to recruit him. Then again, Happy said Peter seemed talkative and excited on the jet.

Somehow, Tony found himself in front of Peter’s room instead of his own. He knocked, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to take his mind off things and check on the kid. Peter opened the door. “Sorry, Happy, I’ll be quieter…” His eyes widened. “Oh, sorry Mr. Stark. I thought you were Happy. Um…” He opened the door wider and stepped to the side. “Come.. Come in.”

Tony walked in and sat on the bed. “You like the room?”

“Oh, yes. Thank you.” He closed the door and sat in one of the chairs. “This might be bigger than some of the apartments I’ve lived in. Thank you again, sir.”

“Okay, no. Mr. Stark, I can tolerate. But sir? No way. Call me that again and I’m taking that suit back.”

Peter sat up straighter and nodded vigorously. “Right. Of course, Mr. Stark. I’m-”

“Pete, calm down. The suit’s yours. I’m not going to take it without good reason” _Looks like jokes are off limits until I can get him to feel more comfortable around me._

“Oh,” the kid relaxed slightly, “thanks.” He looked around nervously, obviously trying to think of a new topic. “How’s Mr. Rhodes? Is he doing okay?”

Tony sighed. “You don’t need to worry about that.” _And I’d really rather not talk about the fact that my friend might never walk again with a teenager that’s both my biggest fan and scared of me._

“So, I don’t know if I’m allowed to ask this, but... how did I do?”

“What? You mean at the airport?” Peter nodded. “You did great, especially for your first mission. That Empire Strikes Back thing was good quick thinking.”

“Really? Thank you!” The kid smiled and finally stopped looking so terrified.

Tony smiled back and picked up the room service menu from the table. “You see anything good on here? I should order something when I get back to my room.”

Peter’s smile fell. “Oh, I didn’t look at it.”

“You didn’t… Peter, have you eaten anything since you got here?”

“I ate on the jet. I thought Happy might offer me something, but I think I annoyed him. I didn’t want to order room service ‘cause I know that can be really expensive.”

“Yeah, and I’m a billionaire.” Tony handed him the menu. “Order anything you want. Hell, order half the menu if you want.”

He looked relieved. “Thank you!” He started reading through.

“I’ll leave you to it. And I’m also gonna have to talk to Happy. He should have told you before to order something.”

“No!” Peter panicked. “He didn’t do anything. I probably should’ve assume you’d cover food expenses and stuff. I was just being an idiot.”

“Don’t call yourself an idiot, kid.” He stood up and made his way to his own room.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you like the story so far. As an aspiring author, I am always looking to improve. If you have any sort of constructive criticism, please feel free to share. The next chapter should come out 12/18.


	2. Trial and Error

Tony wanted nothing more than to wipe the last week from his memory. No more Avengers infighting. No more finding out the truth behind his parents’ deaths. No more Rhodey never being able to walk again. Tony knew there was no escaping the reality of it all, no matter how much he wanted to. Still, that didn’t mean he couldn’t distract himself for a little bit. That was where Peter came in.

Meeting the kid was by far the best thing to come out of the last few days. Although they hadn’t been together much, Peter somehow managed to take up much of Tony’s thoughts. Most of his curiosity came from Peter’s odd behavior in the hotel room. Why was the kid so uncomfortable around him and not around Happy? 

In order to figure out more, Tony decided to fly back to New York in the same jet as the two of them. He couldn’t tell who was more shocked by this, Peter or Happy. They were all on board soon enough. Peter let Tony and Happy sit down first before finding a spot as far from each of them possible. He kept his eyes on the window as the jet took off.

Tony messaged Happy ‘You told me he was all hyper on the way here. Why’s he hiding in the corner now?’

‘I don’t know. He’s probably scared of you,’ Happy responded.

Tony scoffed. ‘Why would he be scared of me? I’m the one that visited him before and made sure he ate, unlike someone that was supposed to be in charge of him.’

‘First of all, I assumed he would know he could order something and not think we’d let him starve. Second, you’re the authority figure here. You said his uncle seemed really controlling, right? Maybe he’s used to people in charge being really strict.’

Tony sighed and looked back at Peter. The kid still stared out of the window. Tony got up and walked over to him. “There’s no way you just sat around doing nothing the whole flight to Germany. Don’t you want to watch a movie or something?”

“I’m okay, Mr. Stark. Thank you.”

“Come on. You talked about Star Wars before, right? I’ve got Star Wars.”

Peter smiled. “You wanna watch Star Wars?”

“Well, I actually like Star Trek more, but-”

Peter suddenly looked more confident than Tony had ever seen him before. “Then I’ll convert you into a Star Wars fan.”

Tony laughed. “You can try. Friday, play Star Wars Episode… 4.” Peter nodded. “Great. Hap, you wanna watch?”

Happy was already trying to read his book. “No, I’m good, thanks. I haven’t seen them.”

Peter ran over and grabbed the book. “Then you have to!”

“Please, just give me my book back.”

“At least watch the first thirty minutes.”

“...Fine.”

Tony smiled to himself. It turned out that making Peter relax was as simple as bringing up something the kid was interested in. In retrospect, that should have been much more obvious. Even so, his mission was a success.

* * *

Peter’s confidence didn’t last long after the plane landed. Once they got in the car, he was back to staring out the window not saying anything. Happy pretended to be relieved, but Tony knew he was also concerned. He considered asking what was wrong, but decided against it.

_The kid’s uncle certainly keeps him on a short string. In the hotel room, Peter asked how he did at the airport as if he was expecting some sort of performance review. Does he think I’m gonna report back to Henry or something? Even if I did, I already told him he did good._

Tony took a better look at Peter’s face. _Dread. He’s dreading going back. Does he just wish the mission wasn’t over yet, or is this something else?_ Tony thought back to his conversation with Henry. He was cold, but didn’t seem abusive or anything. _Then again, most of the worst people know how to act completely normal._

“So, kid,” Tony said, “you know what you’re gonna tell Henry about your time ‘interning’ when you get home?”

He shook his head. “Uncle Henry probably won’t care. He’ll just want to know if you think I did good or not.”

 _Called it._ “Well, you can tell Henry that you did great.”

He smiled, but it didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thank you.”

“... You know, the internship cover story really wasn’t that much of a stretch.”

“What do you mean?

“Well, you go to a high school for geniuses and you’re one of the smartest kids there.”

“I wouldn’t say-”

“You also managed to come up with that cool webbing of yours.”

“Oh, um… Thank you, Mr. Stark, but you’re way more impressive. You literally build a your first suit in a cave.”

“And you made your tech dumpster diving. If I let you into my lab, you could probably create lots of cool stuff.”

Peter’s eyes widened. “I can visit your lab?”

“Oh, well-” Before Tony could correct him, Peter’s phone rang.

He checked to see who was calling. His smiled fell as he answered. “Hello, Uncle Henry… Yeah, I’m almost there… Actually, Mr. Stark said I did good… No, seriously. You can ask him if you... Okay, I’ll do that when I get back… Yes, and my homework too... Right, of course. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean too… Okay, bye.” He went back to staring at nothing and looking miserable.

“... Sure,” Tony said.

“Sure what?”

“You can visit my lab. Any time you want.” The car jolted suddenly as Happy look at Tony through the rearview mirror in shock before returning his focus to the road.

In a rush of excitement, Peter leaned over and hugged Tony. “Thank you!”

Tony flinched back away from the hug. “No hugging, kid.”

Peter immediately let go, embarrassed. “I’m so sorry, Mr. Stark. I.. I don’t… Sorry…”

Tony felt guilty, but didn’t know how to respond to that. He just decided to keep his mouth shut for the rest of the ride. Peter thanked the two of them again before carrying his luggage to his apartment.

Happy turned back to look at Tony. “Since when do you let anyone into your lab, let alone a fourteen year old you met a week ago.”

“... Just drive, Happy.”

* * *

Between dealing with the fallout of the Avengers splitting up and helping Rhodey recover, Tony was so busy he completely lost sense of time. That had always been a problem for him, but he’d previous had Rhodey and Pepper to keep him on track. Now, a couple days could go by without proper rest and Tony would barely even notice.

Many of those restless days were spent trying to perfect braces that could help Rhodey walk again. Rhodey claimed the ones he had worked fine, but Tony insisted they had to feel one hundred percent natural. Tony got him hurt, so he had to make it right as best as he could. He was working on the braces one afternoon when his eyesight happened to land on the date. It was only then that he realized it’d been more than a month sense he’d seen Spider-Man.

He looked back down at his prototype. _God. I’m made barely any progress today and it’s been hours._ Shaking his head, he moved all of that to the side. “Friday, where’s the Spidey suit now? Is he out superheroing?”

“Yes, but since it is the weekend, I do not see any reason for concern. May I ask why you are asking?”

“It’s nothing. I’m just…” He looked back at the braces before sighing. “Screw it. Call him.”

“Calling Peter Parker.”

Unsurprisingly, Peter answered on the first ring. “Hi, Mr. Stark! Is everything okay? Do you need me for something? Another mission? Wait, was I doing something bad? I don’t think I was, but-”

“Chill out, kid.” Tony smiled in spite of himself. “I’m just checking in. How’s my favorite Spiderling doing?”

“Oh, um, I… I’m doing good. I just helped someone find their dog, so that’s nice.”

“Cool. You know, I’m surprised you haven’t stopped by my lab yet. I invited you a month ago. I thought you’d be excited to come over here.”

“I’m sorry, Mr. Stark, I didn’t mean to.. Of course I’m excited. I just… didn’t want to intrude.” _It what world is going somewhere you were invited to intruding?_

“I said you can come whenever you want, so you can come whenever you want. You can even come over right now if you want. That is, unless that person has another pet for you to find.”

“Oh, yeah, I’d love to come over now. Thank you!” They exchanged goodbyes before ending the call. Tony had Friday send Peter the location, just in case he didn’t know the exact way. _Even if today isn’t productive, it’s sure as hell gonna be interesting._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! I hope you guys liked the chapter. The next one will come out 12/22.  
> Funny Story: I wrote the part about Happy not watching Star Wars before learning that his actor is the main writer for the Mandalorian show. I honestly freaked out when I first read his name in the credits and recognized it. Amazing.


	3. Lab Days

Tony knew Peter was smart, of course. He’d seen the kids academic history when he was doing his background check: Straight A’s at one of the most advanced high schools in the city. Even so, Peter’s intelligence still managed to surprise him upon seeing it for himself.

It took Tony barely any time at all to show Peter around the lab before he got to work. “I have some ideas for my web-shooters,” he said. “I wanna see if I can increase the web fluid capacity without making them too bulky.” And so he did. Tony found himself staring as the kid made improvements to something  _ he _ built. 

It didn’t take long for Peter to notice Tony’s eyes on him. His speed immediately decreased and his hands started shaking. Tony forced himself to look away and focus on his own project. He called one of his suits to the lab and started working on that.

About half an hour later, Tony heard Peter mumble to himself. “Oh my god…” he said. Tony assumed he’d been so engrossed in his work, he’d only just realized what Tony was working on. When he looked back at Peter, the kid was staring at something else. Tony walked over. He never put away Rhodey’s braces after he finished working on them for the day.

“Shit…” he said under his breath.

“These are leg braces, right? For… For Colonel Rhodes? I knew he was hurt in the fight but… I didn’t know he…”

“It’s not exactly public yet, but yeah. He’s paralyzed waist down. I made his a prototype that’s helping him get around now, but this should be way better once I finish working out all the kinks.” He picked the braces up and stored them out of eyesight. “You don’t need to worry about-”

“I’m sorry…”

Tony sighed. “Kid, you were already out of the fight when this happened. It was an accident, and you had absolutely nothing to do with it.”

“Exactly, I was down. I probably could’ve helped if-.”

“You were down because you, a high schooler, just finished going toe-to-toe with Captain America and Co. You shouldn’t have even…” He shook his head. “You know what? New ground role: This lab is now officially an apology-free zone for you. Your sorry privileges are revoked until you learn to be more responsible with them.”

“Wait, but-”

“No buts. Now, wanna stop messing with your suit and let me show you how mine works?”

Peter looked over at the Iron Man suit and gasped. “When did that get here?” Tony laughed as Peter ran over to touch it. Pretty soon, they were both working on the suit together. Peter stuck to more mindless stuff while Tony dealt with the nitty gritty details. They made a pretty good team.

“You know, if you’re gonna work on my suit with me, I should probably pay you for your work,” Tony pointed out after they’d been working for some time already.

“W-What?” Peter asked. “No, I don’t need any money. Thank you, though.”

“Don’t worry about it. Here, let me…” He pulled out his wallet.  _ Nothing but twenties and fifties. I could give him a fifty… No, he’s a kid. People would get suspicious if he tried to buy fast food or something with a fifty dollar bill. _ He pulled out two twenties. “Take it.”

“No. I’m sor… I can’t take money from you. You’re the one that’s letting me in your lab. If anything, I-”

“Excuse me, sir,” Friday said, “but I feel the need to inform you that it will be dark soon. Although I do not know exactly what time Peter is expected back home, I assume it will be soon.”

“What!?” Peter pulled out his phone to check the time. “Why do I always lose track time like this?” He started breathing heavy.

“Woah, kid. Cool down. You supposed to be home already or something?”

“No, but I have chores and stuff, and if I don’t get everything done, then… Listen, I’m just gonna swing home. I’ll work on your suit with you again later if you want.” He walked over to his suit to pick it up. While he did that, Tony looked down and saw Peter’s bag. He quickly slipped the forty dollars in before Peter turned around. He said goodbye before taking off. 

* * *

Their meetings quickly became a weekly thing. Every Saturday, Peter swung to the lab and they worked for a few hours until Peter had to go home. Given the fact that Peter never asked Tony about the money, he assumed that Peter either somehow never noticed it or decided to just accept it without making it a big deal. Tony kept slipping him some money each time. After a few weeks, it became obvious that Peter noticed and spent the money.  _ The second option, then. _

He knew money was a problem for Henry and Peter. Even without the background check, Tony could have figured that out just from looking at the size and state of their apartment. They needed some sort of financial help, whether they would accept it or not. It was possible that Henry would be more willing to accept money than Peter was, but Tony couldn’t stand the thought of being around him. 

Peter was obviously scared of him and hated going home. There wasn’t much Tony could do to help him. It wasn’t illegal for a guardian to have strict rules. Even so, Tony couldn’t help but wonder what happened when Peter didn’t follow said strict rules. Based on what Peter’s told him, it was likely never anything more than yelling, another thing it wasn’t illegal for guardians to do.

Winter managed to come within what to Tony felt like a manor of weeks. Peter swung in through the window of the lab. The kid looked pale, but Tony decide not to mention it. They asked each other about their week before Peter joined Tony in what he was working on. About an hour into their work, Peter started to slow down. Tony looked over as the kid rested his head in his hands for a second.

“You okay, kid?”

“Yeah, It’s… I’m fine. Just dizzy.”

Tony stood up. “I’ll get some water.”

“No, it’s fine.” He used the table to support himself as he got up. “I can get it. You… You just…” Tony was barely able to catch him before he hit the ground.

“Pete? Shit! Friday, call-”

“No…” Peter mumbled. “No, it’s okay. I don’t need anyone.”

“Bullshit. You just fainted!”

“Yeah, but I’ll be fine. It’s not a medical thing.” He moved to sit up against the table. “I didn’t eat lunch today. That’s probably… I just need food, I think.”

“You don’t pass out after skipping one meal.”

“Most people don’t, but my metabolism is weird now. It does things like this sometimes. It’s fine.”  _ Why the fuck didn’t he tell me about this earlier? I could’ve worked something out so things like this didn’t happen. Wait, why am I surprised by this? Of course Peter ‘wouldn’t want to inconvenience me.’ _

“Well then,” Tony offered him a hand, “Let’s get you up to my kitchen so I can get you something to eat?”

Peter nodded. “Okay, that sounds good. Thank you.”

* * *

The next time Peter came over, Tony gave him a watch. “This can track your vitals. I wanna know if something like last week happens again so I can get you before you’re taken to a hospital or something. There’s also a button on the side that you can press if you’re ever in danger.” Peter thanked Tony as he handed it over, both hoping it would never need to be used.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! Hope you guys liked the chapter! Sorry this is coming out later than planned. The next chapter will be posted 12/25/2019 (Christmas Present).


	4. A Watchful Eye

‘I’m not feeling well today, so I can’t come in. I’m sorry (I’m not in the lab rn so I’m allowed to say that).’

Peter never missed lab days. He dutifully showed up at the lab at the exact same time for months. That was why Tony had to read Peter’s latest text five times before he could process it. He fought the urge to call his suit and fly straight over to his apartment. “Friday? How are his vitals?”

“Some abnormalities, but there is nothing immediately concerning.”

“Good… Good.” He shook his head.  _ Why am I so worried? He’s a teenager. Teenagers get sick. _

Even so, Tony couldn’t resist asking Friday for an update every ten minutes as he worked by himself. “Boss? Might I suggest you focus on your work? I fear you are not being productive. I will tell you if there are any severe abnormalities in Peter’s vitals.”

“Right, of course. Thank you, Friday.” He got back to his newest project as thoughts of Peter continued to surface.  _ What if he’s hurt or something? He probably wouldn’t tell me. I wonder if Henry did something. Maybe Peter showed up 1 minute too late and Henry did whatever it is he does that makes the poor kid so goddamn scared of him. No, no, Stark. Stop thinking like that. I don’t have any reason to believe Henry’s anything more than an overly strict uncle. _

Tony did his best to suppress those thoughts, as well as the urge to ask Friday for an update on the kid. He slowly got absorbed more and more into his work until Peter completely left his thoughts.  _ Alright, almost there. I’ve got to get this prototype finished before- _

“Boss,” Friday said.

“Not now, Friday. I’m so close to being done.”

“I know, sir, but I need to inform you that Peter’s body temperature is far below normal. It has been below average since I was first able to begin monitoring, so I cannot know how low is too low for him given his mutation. Even so, I believe it is best that we act with caution and-”

“Call him!” Tony stopped what he was doing and summoned his suit. He looked out the window as the phone rang.  _ Snow. Did Pete go out Spider-Manning and get trapped somewhere? And he’s sick, too. Fuck! _

“Peter Parker is not answering. Based on his vitals, I believe he may now be unconscious.” With his suit now fully formed, he took off out the window.

“Where is he?”

“He is at his apartment.”  _ What the hell could possibly cause him to start freezing in his apartment? _ Flying as fast as the suit could handle and then some, he reached the building rather quickly. He broke the glass window and jumped out of the suit. The first thing he noticed was how cold it was.  _ Is the heating broken? _

He quickly scanned the room for Peter. It took him a second to realize the giant mass of blankets on the couch was actually him. “Shit!” He ran over and tried to shake Peter awake. “Come on, Pete.” With no response, Tony picked him up-  _ God, this kid is way too light _ \- and put him in the suit. “Turn on the heater. Take him to the tower and have Happy work on warming him up.”

“On it, boss.” The suit took off. Tony took this time to search the apartment for Henry. No matter how much he disliked the man, he didn’t want to guy to freeze in his own home.  _ Assuming he’s here, anyway. How long has the heating been out. Is the rest of the building like this? _

While Tony checked Henry’s bedroom, someone knocked at the door. “Hello?” she said. “Henry? I heard a crash. Are you and Peter okay? What are you even doing back? I thought you were gone on a business trip.”

Confused, Tony walked over and opened the door. “How long has he been gone?”

The woman’s eyes widened. “Oh my god! You’re Tony Stark!” 

He rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I know. I’m trying to figure out what happened here, so can you please save your fangirling for later?” He knew he was being rude, but it was hard not to be after seeing Peter curled up on the couch unconscious like that.

“Right, of course.” She shivered. “God, it’s freezing in there.” She took Tony’s arm and pulled him into the hallway. “I’m Henry and Peter’s neighbor, Sam. Peter mentioned working with you once when he was tutoring my son, but I didn’t think he was serious. What are you doing here?”

“I gave Peter a watch to track his vitals. I got a notification earlier saying his body temp was too low.”

“Wait? He was here? As in, Henry turned the heating off for his trip and  _ left _ Peter here in the middle of winter?”

“Henry’s turned it off? I thought they missed a bill or something.”

She shook her head. “He always turns it off for trips and things like that, but he always took Peter with him and had him stay in the hotel room or something. He’d never left the poor boy in the cold like this before. It’s horrible! It’s… it’s…”

“Child neglect…” Tony wanted to throw up.

“Yeah, exactly. I don’t even know why I’m surprised. I always knew something was up with Peter’s skittish behavior and all the yelling and crying. Poor thing. I don’t think Henry feeds him enough, either. I always try to slip him some food when he comes over.”

Tony saw red.  _ She knew and never did anything!? _ He forced the thoughts away. Any anger he felt towards her should go equally towards himself, if not moreso. The kid passed out in his lab, for God’s sake.  _ I didn’t know, thought. Who knows what else was going on in this apartment for the months I’ve known him? I didn’t want to be right. I wanted Peter to be fine. I wanted to think Henry was just a jerk, and not literally an abuser. _

“If I get CPS in on this, could you talk to them about what you heard?” he asked.

“Oh, of course.”

“Thank you. Don’t worry about Peter. I’m taking care of him.”

“I should be thanking you. He really is such a sweet boy.” 

After assuring her Peter was in good hands, the woman went back into her apartment. He walked down to the first floor. He pulled out his phone to talk to Friday. “Hey. How are things going with Pete?”

“Mr. Hogan is assisting him. Would you like me to send a suit for you?”

“Yeah. While you’re at it, try and find out how long Henry’s gonna be gone.”

“Will do, boss.

* * *

It took the suit about ten minutes to pick Tony up and take him back to the tower. During that time, Friday managed to learn that Henry wouldn’t be back for another three days.  _ He has no idea what he’s coming back to… _ Tony tried not to think about what would have happened to Peter if he’d been stuck there in the cold that long.

When he landed, Friday told him to meet Happy in one of the guest rooms. He walked in and found Happy pilling blankets on the kid. “How’s he doing?” Tony asked.

Happy stopped and walked over to him. “Never ask me to do something like this again.”

“What do you mean? What happened?”

“No, Tony.” He looked mad. “You first. What happened here? Why is Peter’s skin literally ice cold? Did he get trapped in a freezer or something? That’s the only thing that makes sense.”

“More like his uncle turned his apartment into a freezer and locked him in it.” Tony told Happy everything he knew.

“Damn it…” Happy looked back over at the kid. “Are you planning on getting CPS involved in this?”

“Yeah, but I wanted to talk to Peter first.” Tony pulled up a chair next to the bed and sat down. “I should probably stay here. He’s gonna be really confused when he wakes up.”

“Right, I should tell you. He actually woke up earlier. He was freaking out when I first got him out of the suit. I don’t know if he knew what was happening. He was hyperventilating, so I tried to calm him down. It didn’t work, so he kinda just passed out again. If I’m being honest, it really freaked me out. I mean, I’ve seen you have panic attacks before, but this was different. He kept covering his mouth, like he was trying to be as quiet as possible. I don’t think he heard a word I said.”

“I guess Henry didn’t react well to the kid’s panic attacks…” If Tony hated Henry before, he loathed the man now. It took all his willpower to not punch a hole in the nearest wall.  _ Hold back for now. Save it for when I see him. _ “You know what triggered it?”

“Well, he couldn’t exactly tell me.”

“Right. That’ll just have to be another thing I’ll ask him about later.” He sighed and looked down at the kid.”Thanks for helping him out, Hap.”

“Anytime.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas!  
> Next chapter will be 12/29/2019.


	5. Safe and Sound

Despite having hours to prepare, Tony had no idea what to say when Peter next opened his eyes. “Hey, kid. How are you feeling?”

He blinked a couple times before looking up at the man. He hurried to sit up, leaning against the bed’s backboard. “Mr. Stark! When…? Is this the tower? How did I get here?”

_ A little jumpy, but it’s better than needing to calm him out of a panic attack. Still, I should probably play it safe and wait a bit before getting to the heavy stuff. _ “You’re alright, Peter. Yes, you’re at the tower in one of the spare rooms. Are you hungry? You’ve been out for a while.”

“Um… Yeah, a little bit.”

“Me too, honestly.” He stood up. “Do you think you can get up, or should I bring something down for you?”

Peter got up as well, using the wall as support. “No, I can go up.”

“Alright, but you can lean on me if you need.”

They made their way to the kitchen. Peter looked around in wonder. _ Of course he’s shocked. This one room is bigger than his whole apartment. _ Tony convinced Peter to sit down (despite the kid’s instance that he could make himself something) and made them both a sandwich. They ate in silence, each waiting for the other to say something about what happened.

Tony finally took the initiative. “What’s the last thing you remember before waking up here?”

“... I was in my apartment laying on the couch. What happened?”

“Your watch let me know your body temp was way lower than it should be. I flew over and found you passed out on your couch under a ton of blankets.” Peter looked at his half-eaten food, unwilling to make eye contact. “The heating in your apartment was off. I had Friday fly you back here in the suit and tried to find your uncle. You neighbor eventually told me he was on a business trip and always turns off the heat when he goes on those. That left me with two possibilities.”

“Mr. Stark…”

“One: You decided to stay back on your own and turned off the heat yourself because you’ve always wanted to cosplay Frosty the Snowman.”

“It’s fine. Don’t-”

“Or two: He went without you and turned off the heating anyway. Classic case of child abandonment, endangerment, and neglect.”

“It’s not child abandonment. That only applies to kids that are thirteen or younger”

“So what if it doesn’t meet the legal definition you worryingly know off the top of your head? It’s still messed up.”

Peter looked up from his plate. “Listen, I’m sorry you had to go out of your way to get me like that. I forgot about the watch. I thought I could handle the cold. When I woke up not feeling well, I went online and found out that spiders can’t thermoregulate. All of this could've been avoided if I’d just gone over to my friend Ned’s house after Uncle Henry left.”

“Great, you had a place you could’ve gone. What if you didn’t? What if your only choices were the cold apartment or the streets? It’s not your job to find yourself a warm place to sleep. That was you uncle’s. It’s not your fault the man that’s supposed to look out for you also happens to be an abusive asshole.”

Peter looked confused. “What do you mean abusive?”

_ What? There’s no way he doesn’t get that what Henry did was the textbood definition of child abuse. _ “Kid, he left you to freeze to death.”

“He knew I had friends I could go to. It’s not his fault that I didn’t want to bother them and thought I could handle it. He’s never hit me or anything. He rarely does something this bad, and that’s only because I’ve been making him upset a lot lately.”

_ ‘This bad.’  _ “What else has he done that you think is bad?”

“What? Oh, I didn’t mean…” He looked down again, trembling slightly. “He’s fine. Don’t… Don’t worry about it. He’s good to me. I’m just… I’m hard to take care of, that’s all. He took me in when he didn’t have to. I could’ve gone into the system but… but I didn’t. He’s… I should be grateful. I am grateful.”

_ God… What did that man do to him? _ “Peter, please. Just tell me what kind of stuff he does when he’s mad at you. Your neighbor Sam mentioned screaming.”

“Well, yeah. Of course he yells sometimes. Everyone does.”

_ This isn’t getting anywhere. I need more specific questions. _ “After our first lab day, what happened when you got home?”

“I started working on my chores. I told you that when I left.”

“What kind of chores?”

He relaxed a little. “Nothing out of the ordinary: do laundry, wash dishes, clean. There’s nothing bad about any of that. I was able to finish, by the way.”

“What would’ve happened if you didn’t?”

“I mean… Normal punishments…”

_ I have a feeling our definitions of ‘normal punishments’ are very different. _ He thought for a moment before remembering something. “When you almost passed out in the lab, how long had it been since you’d eaten?”

“Since that morning… But… He’d been… restricting my diet for a while already. Only one meal a day… and I didn’t eat anything the weekend before.”

Tony fought to repress his anger.  _ Don’t blow up in front of him. He doesn’t need that. _ “And you think that’s normal? That all parents do things like that?”

“No… No, I know that was too far, but… I wasn’t…”  _ Stop making excuses for him!  _ “I was supposed to do something, but I didn’t do it, so he got mad and overreacted. It’s fine.”

“What didn’t you do?”

“... You… You know that we don’t have much money, right? And… Uncle Henry was the one paying the bills any everything else. We both agree that he… that I should give him money whenever I can to help out…”

“... He’s been taking the money I give you every week, hasn’t he?” Peter nodded. “Kid, you were the one who worked for that. You didn’t owe him anything. No sane guardian makes their kids give them money like that.”

“I… I know but… Anyway, I was helping a homeless man while out as Spider-Man one week, and he really needed the money. I… Uncle Henry got mad when I told him, cause it wasn’t my money to give away.”

“But it was, Pete.” 

“I am sorry to interrupt, Boss, but Mr. Hogan is asking for an update on Peter’s condition.”

Tony smiled. “Tell him he’s up and eating we’re talking right now.”

Peter seemingly just remember his sandwich’s existence and took another bite. “So, Happy knows about this, too?”

“I had to send you here in my suit and Happy helped warm you up before I got back.”  _ Speaking of that…  _ “Happy said you were awake when you got out of the suit, but you were out if it. Happy said you were panicking. Do you know why you’d be so freaked out?”

Peter blushed, obviously embarrassed. “I, um… I don’t know why I would… I don’t remember that at all… Maybe it was the suit? I’m a little claustrophobic, so… Yeah.”

“Is that just a problem you happen to have, or does it come from something?”

He sighed. “Any point in me trying to dance around the question?” Tony shook his head. “Uncle Henry… He hasn’t done this for a while, but he used to lock me in the closet when I was… being too loud or doing something else bad.”

“Kid… You know that’s wrong, right?”

He shook his head. “No, that’s not… That’s… I didn’t like it, but kids aren’t supposed to like punishments.”

“That-“

“He was doing his best. He’d never had a kid before and suddenly got stuck with a grieving child that wouldn’t stop… He didn’t have to help me, but he did.”

“You mentioned a friend before. Ted, right?”

“Ned, but-“

“If he told you his dad starved him and locking him in a closest and left him in a freezing apartment, what would you do?”

Peter started at Tony for a few seconds before he broke down crying. “No, I… I don’t… It’s wrong. And… I know that. It’s just… Please don’t report him.”

Tony had no idea what to do. He’d never been the best at comforting people, let alone a child this emotionally distraught. “I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you go back to him after this, Pete. You could’ve died.”

“That doesn’t… He didn’t know.”

“Doesn’t make anything he did any better. Why are you protecting him, anyway?”

“I don’t want to go into the system. He saved me from that.”

“The systems isn’t just this place where everyone turns into a criminal, abuse victim, or both like you seem to think it is. Even if it was, that doesn’t mean you owe Henry anything.”

“I know, but I still don’t want to go to a foster home or something.”

“You don’t have to.”

Peter looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“Well, with my team of lawyers, it probably won’t take long for guardianship to pass to me”

Peter froze. “What? Really?”

“Yeah, of course. You’re a really good kid. You don’t deserve all the shit Henry did.”

“Thank you!” Tears still pouring from his eyes, he got up to hug the man. He stopped himself seconds before, flinching away. “Sorry, I know you don’t like… God, I’m ruining this. I-”

Tony hugged him. “It’s okay, kid. You’re alright now.”  _ I’m gonna make sure of it. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter! I hope you all enjoyed my story. I plan on writing more things in the future, but I don't have any concrete ideas yet. If you had anything you wanna read, I'm up for taking requests. Other than that, I hope you all have a wonderful day!


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